Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa May/ June 2020 | Page 12

COVER STORY
Property industry sees up to 35%
engagement increase during lock-
down: PropTech
Upside of COVID-19
“PropTech is not an adage to doing things the same way,
it's a catalyst for how we transform an industry. The national
lockdown has only propelled our actions, as we continue
pioneering in creating interactive site maps, individualised
onsite sales platforms, rich video content and lead the social
media scene with platforms like Facebook LIVE. Through these
various digital avenues, lockdown has resulted in an increase
of between 16% to 35% engagement across various property
websites we manage, as well as an average of 126% increase
in engagement across the various social media platforms,”
states Botha.
PropTech is the combination of property and technology
working together to make the process of renting, sales, and
generating unique property experiences convenient, easier
and effortless. There is no ready-made solution when it comes
to PropTech, however through the use of readily, and ever-
changing, available technologies and applications the potential
to enhance the property market is endless. “We see this
period as a kickstart for the South African property market to
embrace these technologies and further digitize this industry.
Rainmaker Marketing has been at the forefront of innovation of
the property marketing industry and will continue to push the
boundaries of the traditional means,” ends Botha.
The practice of social distancing is not an easy feat for an
industry that mainly relies on personal engagement with
clients and giving individuals tours of homes so they can
get a feel for the area, the house and the lifestyle on offer.
Traditional, face-to-face means of communication have been
strained from the lead up to and even during the national
lockdown, resulting in consumers and property heavyweights
having to put their trust into the digital sphere. Through
technological advances made in South Africa, coupled with
the affordable data solutions that are easier to obtain and
the ever-growing popularity of social media; the connection
between the property market and potential purchasers has
been far-reaching.
“There is no getting around the fact that as South Africans,
we like to view property first-hand and it will always be first-
prize to get a potential client to site or to a home. The national
lockdown has been a challenge for our economy, however,
I believe this has really encouraged industries, especially
property, to truly become more innovative. By utilizing
PropTech and other digital tools, we have experienced first-
hand how the property purchasing process can be enriched,”
explains Stefan Botha, Director of Rainmaker Marketing.
Commercial market - Is the traditional office space a
thing of the past? 
Covid-19 and the South African lockdown have forced
companies across the board to embrace strategies that allow
their employees to continue working, but from home. And
while this has been a relief for many, who no longer have to
face the daily traffic grind and can work in their pyjamas if
they choose, for others the work-from-home alternative has
proven to be difficult and stressful.
Parents have had to learn to juggle full-day parenting
and home-schooling with their work demands, while other
10
MAY/JUNE 2020 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
LOCKDOWN SURVIVAL
workers who are usually office bound have had to get used
to forking out for the increased data costs and hardware
necessary for them to do their jobs at home. The reality has
left many people across the country looking forward to the
prospect of going back to a traditional office environment,
where work is just work - and they don’t have to contend with
pets nestling on their laptops, or children making sudden and
unwelcome appearances on Zoom calls.  Larger companies will try to better utilise their office space
by reducing the overall size of their workspaces, so reducing
rental costs, while others may adopt more of a hybrid
model which sees most staff work from the office while the
remainder work remotely from spaces such as those offered
by The Business Exchange. 
David Seinker, founder and CEO of The Business Exchange,
believes there will no returning to normal any time soon, if
ever. “The traditional office space as we once knew it, is now
dead,” says the brain behind the company that provides
serviced and flexible office space across the country. Managing long-term risk will also become more
important, so corporate companies can be expected to seek
more flexibility in their lease terms. They may even look to
decentralise their head offices and possibly locate different
departments at different addresses. Businesses of all sizes can
be expected to reduce lease investment and overall property
costs, including fit-out and furnishings going forward. 
“There are a number of reasons why this is so,”  Seinker
explains. “Rather than a return to normal once this is over,
corporates are going to have to entirely overhaul their
thinking about office to accommodate a number of factors.” 
1
The shrinking workforce
Unfortunately, the human workforce is going to be a big
casualty of the Covid-19 lockdown. With so many businesses
making a lot less revenue than before, there have already
been large-scale retrenchments across the board, and many
companies will look to take up less space at their respective
head offices.
“Businesses will find themselves in a big office space with
an expensive lease, and not enough people to fill the desks,”
Seinker predicts. Large companies will now seek to diversify
and reduce risk, while also looking for smaller or serviced
office spaces with flexible leases as opposed to five- to 10-year
agreements. They will want spaces that offer other “nice-to-
have” services such as cleaning services, IT support and more,
built into the lease agreement. 
2
Higher health and safety
expectations
“Going forward, employees will expect cleaner offices and
better measures to ensure their safety,” says Seinker. “They will
also be apprehensive about touching surfaces that others
have touched before them.” 
Those who can afford it will look into automatic doors and
elevators that don’t require users to even press a button. Those
who can’t will need to provide hand sanitiser at all public touch
points as people’s concerns about possible contamination will
be with us for a very long time going forward. 
3
4
No more open plan
The trend of the last few years for many businesses has been
to put their employees in an open plan office space. While this
may have looked good and been a clever use of floor space, it
has meant that employees sit closer together and so are more
exposed to the spread of germs. 
“Before Covid-19 we already had a number of companies
enquire about private offices as opposed to open plan and
flexible space,” says Seinker. “Now, with Covid-19 and the
heightened awareness around how easily germs spread,
many companies are going to have to rethink their open plan
spaces and find ways to keep staff more separated from one
another in order to lower the risk of the spread of infection.”
“While it will never again be ‘business as usual’, we can
certainly adapt to the new normal through a combination
of innovative thinking and clever team management and
business scramble in order to accommodate the rapid change
in office space requirements.” 
Spire Property Solutions, are offering free consultations
to both tenants and landlords looking for guidance on their
leases through the current crisis.
“This too shall pass, as the saying goes, and when it does
we do not want to be left in a position where landlords are left
with large vacancies and being unable to service their debt
obligations or pay staff because they have had to absorb all the
costs during this crisis. Equally and as importantly we do not
want a scenario where businesses/tenants have to lay off staff
or close their doors completely, losing their livelihoods,” says
Gregg Huntingford, CEO of Spire Property Solutions. 
“We need to ensure that there is a business home for
everyone to come back to. In order to get our economy back
on its feet as quickly as possible we need to cooperate, share
the burden and ensure all parties’ survival, so Spire is working
with both landlords and tenants to assist with advice and
guidance on possible structured rental deals and long-term
survival strategies.”
“After Corona (AC) and when lockdown is lifted we really need
to open up this economy fast, says Dawie Roodt. After Covid-19
prepare for South Africa 2.0. the new future starts with a great
attitude. Now is an opportunity to get mentally, physically and
financially prepared. There are major opportunities for those
willing to change. It’s best to plan for the worst outcome, expect
the best outcome and prepare for surprise.
As digital driven trends starting taking traction. We have
seen digital businesses such as Amazon and Zoom escalate to
incredible highs never seen before. This is an indicator that the
fourth industrial revolution is starting to take shape. We need
to retool; reconnect & refocus our lives and businesses. Don’t
miss a good crisis - Now is the opportunity to move with the
trends and to adapt, survive and thrive.
SOURCES Efficient Group, RE/MAX of Southern Africa, BidX1,
ABSA, Standard Bank, FNB, Nedbank, The Business Exchange,
Spire Property Solutions
“PropTech is not an
adage to doing things
the same way, it’s a
catalyst for how we
transform an industry.
The national lockdown
has only propelled our
actions.”
Cost savings
“Businesses would have lost a lot of money during the
lockdown, and will have to look at how to trim their budgets
once employees return to work,” cautions Seinker. 
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine MAY/JUNE 2020
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